Bollywood Divided: 7 Actors Who Don't See the Point in Returning Awards

Thu, 05 Nov 2015 16:50:07 IST

New delhi,November 5: The decision of a varied group of filmmakers, authors and poets to return government-granted awards as a form of protest has left opinion divided and India's film fraternity fractured. Writer Arundhati Roy has now added the National Award she won in 1989 for the screenplay of In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones to the stack of prizes sent back. There is also a growing faction that believes returning awards is an exercise in futility. Several among this group agree that 'intolerance' is on the rise, others believe that India has always been intolerant.

Shah Rukh Khan told on Monday that he thought it was 'very brave' of the those who had returned their awards to have done so but that he would choose another form of protest, like a strike or a march.

Kamal Haasan suggests that 'intolerance' be debated once every five years, but believes returning awards is "futile.": "These people are talented they can find other ways to protest and fight against intolerance," added Mr Haasan, who received the Padma Shri award in 1990 and Padma Bhushan in 2014. He also has four National Awards, apart from various other state and government awards.

Rishi Kapoor insisted that he didn't have an award to return explaining that the National Award for Best Child Artiste he won for Mera Naam Joker belongs to Raj Kapoor.